Android 8
|Race = Android |Gender = Male |Date of death = Age 774 (Revived) Age 749 (The Path to Power, Revived) |Address = Muscle Tower/Jingle Village |Allegiance = Red Ribbon Army (before Age 750) |FamConnect = Dr. Gero (creator) Dr. Flappe (co-creator) }} Android 8 (人造人間8号, Jinzōningen Hachi-gō) is Dr. Gero's eighth Android creation. He is designed to serve the Red Ribbon Army, but is seen as faulty because of his good-spirited nature. Android 8 makes his debut in "Mechanical Man No. 8", the 63rd chapter of the ''Dragon Ball'' manga, issued on March 10, 1987. He makes his first anime appearance in "Five Murasakis", the 38th episode of the ''Dragon Ball'' anime, which premiered on November 19, 1986. Android 8 bears heavy resemblance to Frankenstein's monster. Origin As Dr. Gero is not introduced to the series until Dragon Ball Z, seventeen years after Android 8's first appearance (or six years to the end of Dragon Ball), a filler episode of the Dragon Ball anime establishes that the scientist Dr. Flappe was the inventor of Android 8. The fact that Flappe does not appear in Akira Toriyama's manga work, nor is he mentioned as the creator of any android models in Dragon Ball Z, coupled with the fact that Toriyama was in fact involved in the production of anime filler material makes it difficult to identify exactly who designed Android 8. Android 17 asserts during the Androids Saga of Dragon Ball Z that Dr. Gero destroyed the first fifteen Androids he designed, however this disturbs the canonicity of both the mainstream series (as Android 8 makes cameo appearances throughout both Z'' and ''Dragon Ball GT) and Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13!, which features Androids 13, 14 and 15 as its lead villains, and provides an original explanation that Dr. Gero is murdered by Android 17 and 18 prior to personally completing 13 through 15 (leaving an underground supercomputer to finish the models posthumously). Biography Dragon Ball Red Ribbon Army Saga Being released from his cell, Android 8 is introduced by Ninja Murasaki, who intends to use him against Goku, after he and his brothers failed to defeat the much stronger Goku. However, 8 refuses to battle the child. When Murasaki threatens to detonate 8 via a remote control, Goku knocks the trigger out of his hand and knocks out Ninja Murasaki. Goku nicknames Android 8 "Eighter" (Hat-chan), and he becomes Goku's friend. When General White threatens the android with an ultimatum: kill Goku or the Jingle Village Chief will be shot, Goku decides to stop the torment by turning his back so that White may shoot him unopposed, and White shoots Goku, seemingly killing him. After witnessing his first friend get hurt, an enraged Android 8 punches White clean out of Muscle Tower's uppermost window. Afterward, Android 8 proceeds to destroy Muscle Tower, putting an end to at least part of the evil Red Ribbon Army. After eliminating the Army contingent in Jingle Village, 8 reveals that he discovered the Dragon Ball that the army was looking for and hid it, knowing that they intended to kill the villagers once it was found. Hearing this, the head of the village invites 8 to live among them, which he accepts. Before Goku leaves the village, Goku, Android 8, and Suno set out to remove the Android Bomb implants in Android 8's chest. Suno informs Goku that they should visit Dr. Flappe, an expert in machines. After a brief confrontation with Ninja Murasaki, Dr. Flappe successfully removes the bomb.Dragon Ball episode 42, "The Secret of Dr. Flappe" King Piccolo Saga Android 8 is seen again during the King Piccolo Saga of Dragon Ball when he goes to rescue Suno after she falls victim to King Piccolo's assault on King Castle. Android 8's appearance in "Lost and Found" was his last appearance in the Dragon Ball anime. Dragon Ball Z Kid Buu Saga Android 8 makes cameo appearances throughout Dragon Ball Z, the most prominent being during the Kid Buu Saga, when Goku is forming a Spirit Bomb and 8, along with his fellow villagers, supplies Goku with his energy to use against Kid Buu. The fact that he is alive at this time proves that completely artificial life can be revived by the Dragon Balls, as he appears to have been revived along with Earth's inhabitants after the planet's destruction by Buu. Dragon Ball GT Baby Saga Android 8 is very briefly seen in episode 40 of Dragon Ball GT, where he is transported off of Earth by Super Saiyan 4 Goku before it explodes due to the Black Star Dragon Balls. ''The Path to Power'' Android 8 appears in the 4th, and newest, ''Dragon Ball'' film, The Path to Power, which is a retelling of the early Dragon Ball story, altering from canon for theatrical purposes. Android 8 is first seen in Muscle Tower under the control of General White, who orders Android 8 to attack Goku, to which he does. Later however, Android 8 comes to his emotional feelings and does not want to attack the boy, thus, General White deems Android 8 "a failure", and a waste of the millions of dollars spent on designing him. Goku manages to defeat General White with his Power Pole, saving Android 8's life before White can blow him up with his self destruct device. Android 8 and Goku later play in the snow, where Goku names Android 8 "Eighter", delighting the latter. When Goku offers Eighter the chance to join him and his friends on their quest for the Dragon Balls, Eighter decides instead to stay behind and report the RRA members near the tower to the police. One major plot change is that Android 8 is later destroyed by the newly titled "Commander Black" of the "Black Ribbon Army" at the Red Ribbon Army Headquarters, which causes Goku to snap and push himself into a severely powered up stage, allowing him to destroy the giant Battle Jacket that Black is inside, which ultimately kills Black. After Commander Black is defeated, Goku uses the Dragon Balls to wish Android 8 back to life with the bomb inside of him removed. Techniques and special abilities *'Android Bomb': Like most Androids, Android 8 had a bomb implanted in his chest, giving him the ability to self-destruct. He lost this ability after the bomb was removed by Dr. Flappe. *'Eighter's Anger': Android 8 releases a massive fiery wave of energy similar to Super Explosive Wave. This attack is named and only seen in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3. This is most likely inspired by Android 8's self-destruction ability before the bomb he had was removed by Dr. Flappe. *'Eighter Attack': Android 8 zooms through the air out into the distance with his arm out and flies into the opponent. *'Flight': Android 8 can fly with great speed as seen in The Path to Power. *'You Hurt Goku!': Android 8's ultimate attack in Budokai Tenkaichi 3. Android 8 attacks the opponent with a punch that sends his opponent reeling. He then repeatedly uses chop and punch-like attacks to beat the opponent further backward, finishing them off with a massive punch that sends them flying across the stage. This move was likely inspired by the punch he used to defeat General White. *'False Courage' *'Howl' Video game appearances Android 8 appears in Dragon Ball: Daimaō Fukkatsu, Dragon Ball 3: Gokuden, Dragon Ball Z: Super Gokuden: Totsugeki-Hen, and in cutscenes in Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo. He makes his first playable appearance in a video game in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3. Despite being able to fly in The Path to Power and having several moves from this film in the game, Android 8 cannot fly well in Budokai Tenkaichi 3. In an alternate saga, Android 8 protects Goku from Android 16 who was sent to the past by Dr. Gero to assassinate Goku so he wouldn't destroy the Red Ribbon Army. Although Android 8 manages to defeat Android 16, he spares Android 16 under Goku's request, partially because he wants to fight him again. Android 8 is also a playable character in Dragon Ball: Origins 2. After General White's defeat in the bonus level 2-5, he attacks a Yeti Suno had befriend, thinking it had kidnapped Suno. In bonus level 2-6, Android 8 repairs the Red Ribbon Robot Suno found, after Goku had found the robot's five missing parts in the snow. In the bonus level 2-7, Android 8 confronts Ninja Murasaki and his brothers in the Muscle Tower to make him stop the bad jokes Murasaki began to make to the population of Jingle Village after General White's defeat. Android 8 decides to remove the bomb implanted in his chest in bonus level 4-5, and visits Senbei Norimaki in Penguin Village. It is revealed in bonus level 2-8 that while Android 8 was at Penguin Village, Major Metallitron took control of the Muscle Tower after his batteries reloaded and ordered the Muscle Tower soldiers to steal Jingle Village's supplies. Android 8 then goes to the Muscle Tower and beats Major Metallitron. In Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans, Android 8 gets captured and turned evil in the Muscle Tower by General White. Voice actors *Japanese version: Shōzō Iizuka *FUNimation Dub: Mike McFarland *Ocean Dub: Dale Wilson (Dragon Ball Z) *Latin American Dub: Ricardo Hill (Dragon Ball), Arturo Mercado (Dragon Ball Z) *Portuguese Dub: António Semedo *Italian Dub: Pietro Ubaldi *Brazilian Dub: Antônio Moreno Trivia *In the Viz manga, Goku calls Android 8 "8-man" while in the anime and Budokai Tenkaichi 3, Goku calls him "Eighter." *Android 8 has also been called Franky, in reference to his resemblance to Frankenstein's monster. *His nickname in the Latin American dub, "Octavio", comes from the Latin word octa which means "eight". *Android 8 is the only Android to appear in all three series; Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT. *Android 8 (along with Cell) is the only androids with no Red Ribbon army symbol. *Android 8 seems to be a nature android, like Android 16. Also, he shares a few other traits with Android 16: they both became friendly, they loved nature, faced a tragic end, and their deaths fueled enough rage within Goku and Gohan to triumph over the villain that had killed them (Commander Black in the The Path to Power and Cell, respectively). *Android 8000, a character created for the online video game Dragon Ball Online resembles Android 8, and located on its armor is the number "8000". Gallery References Category:Characters Category:Androids Category:Characters who can fly Category:Characters Who Cannot Die of Natural Causes Category:Males Category:Red Ribbon Army Category:Z Fighters Support Category:Dragon Ball Category:Dragon Ball Z Category:Dragon Ball GT